1939–40 Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team

1939–40 Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball
1939–40 Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball
NCAA tournament National champions
National Championship Game, ; W 60-42 vs. Kansas
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Record	20–3 (9–3 Big Ten)
Head coach	Branch McCracken (2nd season);
Assistant coach	Ralph Graham
Captain	Marv Huffman
Home arena	The Fieldhouse
	Seasons ← 1938–39 1940–41 →

1939–40 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Purdue	10	–	2	.833	16	–	4	.800
Indiana	9	–	3	.750	20	–	3	.870
Ohio State	8	–	4	.667	13	–	7	.650
Illinois	7	–	5	.583	14	–	6	.700
Northwestern	7	–	5	.583	13	–	7	.650
Michigan	6	–	6	.500	13	–	7	.650
Minnesota	5	–	7	.417	12	–	8	.600
Iowa	4	–	8	.333	9	–	12	.429
Wisconsin	3	–	9	.250	5	–	15	.250
Chicago	1	–	11	.083	5	–	15	.250

The 1939–40 Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team represented Indiana University. Their head coach was Branch McCracken, who was in his 2nd year. The team played its home games in The Fieldhouse in Bloomington, Indiana, and was a member of the Big Ten Conference.^[1]

The Hoosiers finished the regular season with an overall record of 17–3 and a conference record of 9–3, finishing 2nd in the Big Ten Conference to the Purdue Boilermakers. Purdue was invited to participate in the 8-team NCAA tournament, but declined their bid recommending IU play in the tournament in their place. In only the second national tournament, IU won their first NCAA Tournament Championship by defeating Kansas, 60–42, in the final. Indiana was also retroactively recognized as the national champion by the Premo-Porretta Power Poll.^[2]

Roster

No.	Name	Position	Ht.	Year	Hometown
7	Andy Zimmer	C	6–4	So.	Goodland, Indiana
9	Chet Francis	G	6–1	Jr.	Avon, Indiana
10	Harold Zimmer	F	5–8	Jr.	Springfield, Ohio
11	Everett Hoffman	C	6–3	So.	Evansville, Indiana
12	Jim Gridley	G	6–1	Jr.	Vevay, Indiana
13	Jim Ooley	G	6–2	Sr.	Spencer, Indiana
16	James Clifton	C	6–3	Jr.	Bentonville, Indiana
18	Cliff Wiethoff	F	6–1	So.	Seymour, Indiana
19	Ed Newby	G	5–11	So.	Indianapolis, Indiana
20	Jack Stevenson	F	6–1	Sr.	Indianapolis, Indiana
21	Max Hasler	G	5–10	So.	Elnora, Indiana
22	Jay McCreary	G	5–10	Jr.	Frankfort, Indiana
23	Don Huckleberry	G	5–9	So.	Salem, Indiana
24	John Torphy	F	5–11	So.	Bedford, Indiana
25	Bill Frey	F	6–1	So.	Kokomo, Indiana
26	Tom Motter	F	6–1	Jr.	Fort Wayne, Indiana
28	William Torphy	G	6–1	So.	Bedford, Indiana
29	Robert Menke	F	6–3	Jr.	Huntingburg, Indiana
30	Ralph Dorsey	F	5–10	Sr.	Horse Cave, Kentucky
32	Herm Schaefer	F	6–1	Jr.	Fort Wayne, Indiana
33	Curly Armstrong	F	5–11	Jr.	Fort Wayne, Indiana
34	Marv Huffman	G	6–2	Sr.	New Castle, Indiana
35	William Menke	C	6–3	Jr.	Huntingburg, Indiana
38	Bob Dro	G	5–11	Sr.	Berne, Indiana

Schedule/Results

Date time, TV	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular Season
12/9/1939*	Wabash	W 37–24	1–0	The Fieldhouse Bloomington, Indiana
12/11/1939*	Xavier	W 58–24	2–0	The Fieldhouse Bloomington, Indiana
12/15/1939*	at Nebraska	W 49–39	3–0	Nebraska Coliseum Lincoln, Nebraska
12/18/1939*	Pittsburgh	W 51–35	4–0	The Fieldhouse Bloomington, Indiana
12/23/1939*	at Butler	W 40–33	5–0	Butler Fieldhouse Indianapolis
12/27/1939*	at Duquesne	W 51–49	6–0	Duquesne Gardens Pittsburgh
12/28/1939*	at Villanova	W 45–33	7–0	Villanova Field House Villanova, Pennsylvania
1/6/1940	Illinois Rivalry	W 38–36	8–0 (1–0)	The Fieldhouse Bloomington, Indiana
1/8/1940	Iowa	W 45–30	9–0 (2–0)	The Fieldhouse Bloomington, Indiana
1/13/1940	at Minnesota	L 44–46	9–1 (2–1)	Minnesota Field House Minneapolis
1/15/1940	at Wisconsin	W 40–34	10–1 (3–1)	Wisconsin Field House Madison, Wisconsin
2/3/1940*	at DePaul	W 51–30	11–1 (3–1)	University Auditorium Chicago
2/10/1940	Purdue Rivalry	W 46–39	12–1 (4–1)	The Fieldhouse Bloomington, Indiana
2/12/1940	Michigan	W 57–30	13–1 (5–1)	The Fieldhouse Bloomington, Indiana
2/17/1940	at Northwestern	L 36–40	13–2 (5–2)	Old Patten Gymnasium Evanston, Illinois
2/19/1940	at Iowa	W 46–42	14–2 (6–2)	Iowa Field House Iowa City, IA
2/24/1940	Chicago	W 38–34	15–2 (7–2)	The Fieldhouse Bloomington, Indiana
2/26/1940	at Ohio State	L 26–44	15–3 (7–3)	Ohio Expo Center Coliseum Columbus, Ohio
3/2/1940	at Purdue Rivalry	W 51–45	16–3 (8–3)	Lambert Fieldhouse West Lafayette, Indiana
3/4/1940	Ohio State	W 52–31	17–3 (9–3)	The Fieldhouse Bloomington, Indiana
NCAA tournament
3/22/1940*	vs. Springfield Quarterfinals	W 48–24	18–3 (9–3)	Butler Fieldhouse Indianapolis,IN
3/23/1940*	vs. Duquesne Final Four	W 39–30	19–3 (9–3)	Butler Fieldhouse Indianapolis
3/30/1940*	vs. Kansas Championship	W 60–42	20–3 (9–3)	Municipal Auditorium Kansas City, Missouri
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

Awards and honors

Marv Huffman, Consensus second team All-American
Marv Huffman, NCAA basketball tournament Most Outstanding Player
Bill Menke, Third team All-American (Converse)

References

^ "Indiana Basketball Men's Database". IndyStar. Retrieved November 24, 2015.
^ ESPN, ed. (2009). ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. New York: ESPN Books. p. 553. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.

[1] "Indiana Basketball Men's Database". IndyStar. Retrieved November 24, 2015.

[2] ESPN, ed. (2009). ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. New York: ESPN Books. p. 553. ISBN 978-0-345-51392-2.

[1]

[2]

v t e Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball
Venues	Old Assembly Hall (1900–1917) Men's Gymnasium (1917–1928) The Fieldhouse (1928–1960) New Fieldhouse (1960–1971) Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall (1971–present) Cook Hall (practice)
Rivalries	Illinois Kentucky Purdue
Culture & lore	2011 Kentucky upset A Season on the Brink (film) Blue blood status Crimson Guard Crossroads Classic "Indiana, Our Indiana"
People	Head coaches NBA draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
NCAA national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics